Scandanavia: The Voyage

 

At the harbor in Oslo

I boarded the ship the evening of the fourth night I was in Oslo. I handed my bags to the crew aboard, and was quickly introduced to my roommate (a German woman in her late 40s with hair a brighter shade of red than mine), and she quickly agreed to take the top bunk. (Thank goodness, I'm not sure I would have been able to get up there!) Each cabin had its own tiny bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower.

We had an introductory dinner, met all the passengers and crew, and spent the night at the dock there in Oslo. This is the same ship I was on last year in Scotland, but all of the crew (including the Captain) were new to me. There was a full set of passengers - 12 - and 10 crew, including Captain, two Mates, Engineer, Cook, and five deck hands. The crew hailed from Germany, England, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. The passengers were four couples all 60+ in age, a family of four (mother, father, a boy and girl 18 and 20), and my roommate and me. One couple were English, one couple were Americans living permanently in Berlin, and all the rest were Germans. But everyone spoke English, and most of the ship's business was conducted in English.

Early the next morning, I was one of the first up, grabbing coffee, and watching the quiet early morning Oslo harbor. I was struck throughout the trip how quiet and not busy early mornings were - I got up around 6:30 or 7, but I didn't see much of anyone in town or on the water until closer to 9. Ship's breakfast was at 8, and people came trickling in slowly. Breakfast was always European breakfast: hot and cold cereal, yogurt, cold meats and cheeses, excellent bread (not toast) baked on board, and fruit salad. 

Our track

We began what would be our usual pattern: the Captain briefed us on plans for the day, we left the dock around 9, and sailed south until mid- to late- afternoon. In contrast to Scotland, this sailing area was well set up with plenty of dock space even for a big ship like us, so we were tied up to shore every night. (In contrast, in Scotland we were mostly anchored out, and had to dinghy ashore. This was both physically difficult - climbing down and up the ship's side and the dockside - and logistically constraining - meeting a scheduled dropoff and pickup. Dockside was much nicer!) The overall plan was to sail south, out the long Oslo fjord and along the Norwegian and Swedish coast, in and around the many islands, to Gothenburg, Sweden. It was about 200 miles, and a four-hour train ride, but we were taking eight nights to make our leisure cruise.

 The first night, we stopped at an island in Oslo fjord, Oscarborg. This little island was in the middle of a narrow part of the fjord, and thus strategically controlled the seaward approach to Oslo. It was an important military site throughout history. When Germany made a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway in April 1940, the cannon battery on the island fired on and sunk one of the largest German warships. This slowed the Nazi advance, and allowed the government and the king to escape north and eventually to Britain. As a result, Norway never surrendered. So this site is pretty much the most important Norwegian WWII battle site. I toured the fortress with my roommate, read all the placards, and wondered how all the Germans thought about this now.

At Oscarborg Island, 
where the Nazi ship was sunk.

 

Many, if not most, Norwegian and Swedish families have summer houses at the seaside, or in the mountains or forests. Some of these are tiny houses with maybe 10 square feet of yard, some are much bigger.  The coast we were traveling was thronged with these houses, painted white or red. Everywhere were flowers - 18 hours of daylight really helps the annual plants to grow vigorously! There was corresponding infrastructure on the islands, from nice big marinas to ferries, some for people-only and some carrying cars. The islands we stopped at (never the mainland until the last night) ranged from tiny with no cars to much larger, with traffic. They were all rocky and for the most part only sparsely forested. There were sheep and cows as well as houses and people. Every island we stopped at (except one) had at least one little cafe that sold ice cream and beer (probably other things, but these were the things I paid attention to!)

The narrow chasm I failed to climb

One of the bigger and busier islands we stopped at had an Ingrid Bergman park and display. Bergman's daughter, Isabella Rossellini, is my pretend friend and neighbor. Her Instagram featured a post just a couple of weeks before about her trip to the family summer house on a tiny island reached from this bigger island we were at. Just missed her! This island also featured a high stone ridge behind the harbor, reachable by climbing up rocks through a narrow chasm that at one point had rocks wedged in the top over you. This was where a famous movie scene had been filmed, all the crew mentioned it. I started up this climb, and realized that I was only able to crawl over the rocks, no semblance of walking. I only went part way up and then backed down, which was harder than continuing up. I was chagrined to realize that not only was there a more gentle way back down from the top, there was even a wooden staircase all the way up! But I never got to the top.

Another night, we tied up directly to a stone cliff face - no dock! These islands are adapted for this - there were iron spikes driven into the rock we could tie the ship to. And, there is essentially no tide in this area, so tying up is much less complicated than if we needed to keep adjusting. There were several other boats in the cove on the island, and one house and some cows. But most of it was rock with small heathers and other plants. We climbed around, played with wildlife in the tide pools, found comfy rocks to sit or lie on, and ended the evening with a shoreside barbecue and sea shanty sing. 

Tied directly to the rocks!

We sailed and motored through this archipelago, sometimes through very narrow passages. During the days, we moved around on deck, watched the ship work, chatted, watched the scenery, and read books. We were invited to pull on ropes. Some passengers also took a turn at the wheel, and a couple went up the mast or out on the bowsprit, accompanied by crew. The passages were very smooth, except for a couple of times. One day took us out a very narrow passage into an open seaway, where the Skagerrak Channel between Norway and Denmark meets the Kattegat Channel, between Sweden and Denmark. The water was very confused, not just waves from one direction, and the wind was fierce. Several people got sick, but I am lucky in that regard. However, I sat outside, hanging on for dear life as the ship staggered about irregularly, and kept my eyes on the horizon. You never know when the luck might run out! We were only in the big water for a few hours before finding sheltered water behind more islands. Another afternoon we encountered a lot of wind and some big waves for a couple of hours, but all the waves were from one direction and the ship rode through them much more smoothly.

Overall, a great time! 

Here are several more pictures:

Passengers and crew leaving Oslo

 

Sailing down the fjord!

Just one of the islands was really wooded.
It had a campground and bathing beaches
and working farms with cows and sheep

 

Island barbecue

Tidepool friend

Summer houses and the rocky ridge above

Another day aboard

Under sail, no engine, through narrow passages!

Rob, the intrepid English sea dog (passenger)
assisting the crew

The crew furling the sails

More narrow going

Looking down (photo by Rob who went up)
It really is narrow!
We are using the engine here!

The same place, looking forward from deck

In the narrow spots, it was hard to look away!

Swedish holiday houses

A new development of holiday houses?

And more holiday houses

One of the cutest islands

Who needs a yard?

We were usually the big dog in harbor
People would bring their kids to see us

Even more narrow going

Coming into Gothenburg
All over!

Scandanavian Holiday: Part 1

TL;DR: It was fabulous. Oslo is my favorite city I've visited on my own, the weather and sailing were fabulous, there was terrific company on the ship, the food was amazing, and my body stood up to the challenge. I arrived home to air you could cut with a knife, bone tired and covered with bruises but only one injury that will take another few weeks to clear up, a garden looking like a jungle, a deluge of vegetables requiring harvest, and a bunch of chores and projects I had successfully convinced myself could wait until my return but which now feel very overdue.

I want to capture what happened while it's still relatively fresh, but "productivity" and "responsibility" are tugging at me. Squeezing out a few moments, I'm going to start until the clock strikes, and post what I have so far, hoping to come back before too long.

 

PROLOGUE:

Five days before I was to leave I got sick - probably food poisoning. Very very sick, very very unpleasant and messy, totally debilitating. For 48 hours I moved only between my bed and the bathroom, with heroic efforts to get to the backyard door and let the dogs out. Through it all I kept a countdown to the trip - I certainly couldn't travel if things didn't clear up. It left me shaky and weak. Luckily I had done major laundry just before getting sick (and I didn't wear any traveling clothes while down for the count) so packing didn't require a lot of work. The most major thing I didn't do was go for a pedicure - my toes went to Norway unadorned. The day I left, I was five pounds lighter than the day I got sick, but I was clearly a long way along my recovery. Just cautious in what I was going to eat. Also very aware of restroom availability, in case of emergency, but it never was required, thank goodness.

THE TRIP AND OSLO

 I arrived in Oslo Friday afternoon, although my bag did not. Because I'd figured I'd be somewhat dazed and weak upon arrival, I'd planned on a taxi to the hotel. But when I didn't have my luggage, just my carry-on shoulder bag, I decided to try out the train. $6.50 instead of $80! I had to walk a few blocks, but the hotel room was ready and I was able to collapse. I thanked my mother for her rules of travel: always pack a change of clothes in your carry-on. I only had underwear, but it was great to be able to change. Lufthansa was tracking my suitcase and sending me regular updates, so I wasn't worried, just resigned. After freshening up, I ventured out. 

I had studied maps of Oslo and planned out several things to do. But immediately, I realized my mental scale was off. Oslo is so much smaller than I had been thinking! When I stepped out of the hotel, I looked to my right and saw the harbor. I had been thinking it was much farther away. Instead, everything was right there.

I spent the next few days walking, taking the tram, walking and looking more, and sitting at sidewalk cafes eating fish soup and drinking beer. Only one museum. The weather was in the 90s! I went back to the hotel in the middle of the day each day, and then sallied forth again. The Norwegians apparently eat dinner earlier than any other country in Europe (like, 5:30 pm!) and so I got by on the hotel breakfast, a mid day snack, and late afternoon dinner at a cafe. One day I had 19,000 steps! and 16,000 another! Way to go, body, carrying me along!

Norway has decorative manhole covers.
This photo is one of a series from other visits.

Oslo has a small river, complete with waterfalls, flowing through it
I took a tram up the hill, and followed the river back downtown.

Showing I'm in Norway

Many spots around the harbor people were swimming.

In a fun modern development area, public art.
I like the way this motorcycle moose echos the other photo.

The waterfront has been entirely rebuilt in the last 20 years.

The one museum I went into - the Museum of the Resistance.
I read a lot of adventure stories in my youth. The reality was grimmer.

These two notes in particular hit me different right now.

 

Storm!

 

Weather radar,
 after the power went out.

A huge wall of thunderstorms came through here Thursday afternoon, around 4 pm. The power went off a few minutes after the leading edge came through. Both dogs were perturbed - Bixby was shaking and trying to burrow under me (I hugged him swaddled in a blanket, it seemed to help). The storm lasted less than an hour, and cell phone service worked all along. So I knew the power outage was widespread. I reported on Pepco's app, and they initially estimated "restored by 6 pm". Their estimates got progressively later and later over the next couple of hours, ending up at midnight.

After the storm had passed, reports of trees down throughout the neighborhood came in via Whatsapp and email. I couldn't reach my brother-in-law, and there was a report about a huge tree down across his street. I set out to walk around and check.

I once was chased by a falling tree, and fell and split the back of my head open (the tree never touched me, it turns out I can run faster than a tree). I had been alerted by the distinctive "CRACK" noise that comes - we have enough big trees around here that I've heard this before and since. I also had a huge tree fall in my own yard, with a glancing blow to the house - I wasn't home when that happened, but it was a very big deal.  I'm a little skittish about things falling on me. But, after the storm, the air was clean and fresh, there was no power in the house, and I was craving a chance to stretch my legs. (I'm really working at getting those walks in, upping my steps!)

Hilltop Road

The tree(s) down were really impressive. One house had the whole end ripped off, as the tree fell between the chimney and the side wall, and took them both out. It then toppled another tree, and they both fell at right angles to the road and took down wires and a telephone pole. So one house rendered unlivable. It was a distance from my BIL's house, which looked fine from the far side of the tree. I finally reached him by text - he had been home, but went out when the storm had passed.

I ate a cold supper (one quick dip into the fridge, door closed again quickly). I read on my fully charged kindle with its own light, fired up a couple of solar camping lanterns so I wouldn't bump into things, and considered whether in the morning I'd be able to boil water for coffee on the gas grill in the back yard, what pot to use, and where my pour-over coffee setup was. I actually forgot that I don't have any ground coffee in the house, only whole beans! But I travel with a few packets of instant coffee, so all I really need is boiling water. I have flashlights and charging bricks, so I figured I would be good for while.

Damaged House,
but nobody hurt

The power came back on about 9:30 pm, after only about five hours. I had no raw meat in my fridge, and I figured everything in there was fine. The freezer, untouched and completely full, was even in better shape. 

We'll be having more of these high-energy storms, I'm sure. The number of big trees in my 'hood are decreasing, but I was recently hit with an insurance company inspection that suggested I had too many big trees near me. I think there is only one killer tree left, a 3-foot + diameter white oak, and some tall but slim other oaks and tulip trees. But I've planted trees destined to grow into big canopy trees, if they live that long. The benefits of the canopy for cooling and water management still outweighs the danger, in my opinion.

How Active Am I Really?

Or, Keeping Myself Honest

One of the reasons I started this blog is because I know how fallible my memory is. I cannot rely on my memory of how active I've been, what I've eaten, or how much I weighed in the past. I've been thinking that I'm pretty content with my fitness level. For a while this spring, I felt strong! This feeling is absolutely real, but it has faded over time. Now, I feel mostly ok, but I know I'm doing so much less than I used to do.

When I retired, I developed a report card for myself.  It tracks a variety of things about my life, from how many steps I take to how many books I read. I don't keep it up rigorously every month, but I actually do keep track of all of the components to be able to bring it up to date whenever I decide to update it. The last time I posted about the report card was about a year ago, where I only posted the comparison to the year before. Because I was still within six months of knee surgery, I gave myself a pass on the activity statistics, which at that point were looking not too bad.

Well, yesterday's comprehensive review of the data revealed a different picture. I looked over a longer period time - basing everything on 2019, when I retired halfway through the year. Pretty much every single way I look at activity has gotten significantly worse, trending further down each year. Sigh. I slice and dice my data, looking at different measurements, averages and peaks and valleys, but it pretty much tells the same story. 

What do I track? Here are my activity measures:

• Average daily calories
• Days with more than 2,200 calories (very active days)
• Average daily steps
• Days with less than 5,000 steps (very inactive days) 
• Stand time in minutes (new in 2023 with Apple)
• Minutes rowing (new in 2023)
• Minutes stationary bike (newly tracked last year after knee surgery)
• Minutes Nordic Track  (new this year)
• Miles walked (while "taking a walk", not incidental distance) 
• Gym workout days (tracked manually)

All but the last of these are from my Apple Watch. When I switched from the Fitbit in 2023, I noticed the calorie counts were substantially different (higher on Apple). I don't really care what exactly the number is or how accurate it is - but I do care that it correctly captures trends up and down. I redefined "active days" to not overstate them with the more generous estimates.

But all of that detail just above can obscure the main fact: I am substantially less active now than I was in recent memory.  I want to tell that story clearly and unambiguously, to convince myself that I need to get off my butt and move! 

So, after bringing the data up to date, digesting the big impact, I took a long walk. Then, I picked up the computer again and made an infographic to show the sad, sad, facts. Remember, I worked in data analysis all of my working life, and using data to tell a story is something I enjoy. So I amused myself quite well, learning how to make a totally new type of graph, and how to present it so it tells my story. So below, here it is:

So what is this?

I simplified my measures to the five comparable measures since 2019 (clockwise from top): Calories, Steps, Active Days, Miles Walked, and Workout Days. I scaled them all relative to 2019, as if that year were perfect. (It wasn't bad.) I display them on a "radar" chart. 2019 forms a perfect pentagon. Each year since then is another pentagon, with this year's data so far in red. We see that calories don't vary much, and neither do gym workout days - in fact, both are slightly better than in 2019. But daily steps and active days are only slightly more than half of what they were back then, and miles walked is less than 25% of what they were. 

Steps, miles, and active days are all increased by getting off my butt more. The more I get up and move, the closer those red corners of the pentagon move towards the 2019 pentagon. 

So it all boils down to this: make the red pentagon as much like the big blue one as possible. 

 

 

Wet and Cold

I'm back from my first adventure trip of the season - a four-day jaunt from Old Town Alexandria, down the Potomac, and back up the Chesapeake Bay and Patapsco River into Baltimore, aboard the Pride of Baltimore II. This is the ship I've taken several trips on before. This time, my friend's husband (also a friend himself!) came along. I had a great time, but still the way to summarize the trip is cold and wet. Or wet and cold. You get the idea!

My compact bag and boots

For a couple of weeks before the trip I followed the weather forecast. We had days in the seventies here, where I had all the doors and windows open, airing out the house. But the forecast for the trip got progressively worse and worse. By the time we left, the forecast for the four days started with pouring rain in the 40s, 30-knot winds with temperatures in the 30s, to a relatively benign sunny and 40s with light and variable winds. Welcome to spring, climate change style in the mid-Atlantic!

I hate to be cold, and staying dry is also a key part of staying warm. So I packed fairly compactly, but I brought all the outerwear I would bring on a longer trip. It all fit in a neat little carry-on sized backpack, with my waterproof seaboots attached on the outside. In fact, the first time I zipped the bag, it went too easily, so I opened it back up and added more socks and doubled up on hats and gloves. 

We joined the ship Sunday evening at the dock in Old Town Alexandria, a town that pre-dates the founding of Washington DC. It's got plenty of George Washington sites, and parts of it were surveyed by Benjamin Banneker, in a project run by President Jefferson. In fact, the original 10-miles-square District of Columbia included most of the city of Alexandria, but when the federal city grew only slowly, it was returned to the state of Virginia in the nineteenth century (along with the sites of the Pentagon and DCA National Airport). As we enjoyed the waterfront and getting to see the ship, it was just starting to drizzle.

Through the bridge at 3:30 am

A highlight of the trip for me was going under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, interstate 495. This relatively new bridge only opens between 2 - 4 in the morning, so after orientation aboard ship, we settled into our bunks for a quick sleep. We were roused to the deck in the drizzle at 2:30 am, and the ship cast off the dock and went through the open bridge at 3:30 am, using the engine with no sails. After that, two thirds of the crew were dismissed to go back to bed, but my friend and I, along with some professional crew, stayed on deck on watch. I noted when we passed Mount Vernon on the shore south of the bridge. The skies opened up to a pouring rain, and we motored down along the narrow and twisty river with very little visibility. We spent the next four hours straining to see ahead and to the side, occasionally pointing out to the watch captain some object. There were flashing lighted buoys to show the channel, but they were far apart and unlighted buoys were more frequent. There were essentially no other boats out, which was a relief. We had GPS with displays to help out, but actual eyes were needed. It poured the whole time. Dawn came very slowly, impeded by the heavy cloud cover and rain. 

Drowned rats, ready to go below

By the time dawn came, the fun had pretty much gone out of it. Did you know that most rain gear, exposed to hours and hours of pouring water, will end up letting moisture through? I discovered after being dismissed below at 8 am that I was not wet to the skin or on the bottom of my 3-4 layers, but I did have very damp fleece outer layers under the wet insides of my rain gear. I turned it all inside-out and draped it about the cabin. The lining of the rain gear was dry by afternoon, and everything except my thick gloves were dry by the next day. A hot filling breakfast and a morning nap were very welcome. I was distressed to realize that my phone had gotten so wet it was acting very fluky, but there was nothing to be done except see what happened. (They have a dedicated rice bag to rescue phones!)

Nan at the helm!

We went back up on deck on watch at 4 in the afternoon, after hanging out down below chatting with crew and the cook. The rain was tapering off, and we had rounded the corner out of the river and turned towards north and home to Baltimore in the wide Bay. We were still under power, as the wind was from the wrong direction, and the Captain was anxious to get to a safe and sheltered anchorage before the 30-knot gale started. We, the amateur crew, were given a chance to steer the ship! We each took two hour-long tricks at the helm, and it was a lot of fun to manage such a large, heavy object being buffeted by wind and waves. There is a significant lag time to when you turn the wheel and when something happens, and you have to stop turning the wheel long before the ship comes to a heading. It's not easy, and as the winds and waves picked up, it got harder. Over the course of our four-hour watch, the rain stopped and the temperature dropped and the wind picked up and it got dark. Because of the wet and the cold, I found I was holding a huge amount of tension in my neck and shoulders, and two hours on the wheel was physically challenging. But fun!

My friend at the helm

We were dismissed below at 8 pm, had another hot and nourishing dinner, and I went right into bed. Hygiene suffered, as I wasn't anxious to shed layers and add wetness to my cold and tired body. I normally sleep with an eye mask for darkness, and I am used to listening to a book or a meditation to help me fall asleep or get back to sleep when I inevitably wake up at night. I have acquired a "Musicozy", a soft head/eye wrap with build-in tiny flat speakers that bluetooth to my phone and play privately into my ear. It worked very well! A bonus is that it is thick and soft, and actually added warmth to my head sticking out from under my large heap of blankets.

In the middle of the night we heard the chain rattle, and I realized they anchored the boat without my help. I snuggled back down into my nest of blankets and fell back asleep to another chapter of my Italian murder mystery (I am constantly rewinding because I miss things as I fall asleep!)  

The next morning the whole crew slept in, with no engine noise and not a lot of motion. We had an 8 am breakfast, and the Captain informed us we'd be staying put for the day as the wind chill put the temperature down at 18 degrees! We had a schedule to meet back in Baltimore, but years of experience have taught them to build in significant buffers for weather and for things breaking. The crew had plenty of maintenance to do on the ship, and we were welcome to pitch in or else lounge about. 

At anchor in Annapolis

The Captain, feeling some obligation to the guests, made himself available for an "ask me anything". This guy has made this ship his life - he's done a lot of other nautical things over the years, but he has been involved with the Pride of Baltimore II since before it was built! He's commanded every trip I've been on (this was my 5th). I've learned he loves to talk. He is an expert, and he knows it, and he explains things very well. So that was decent entertainment for the day. I also took periodic trips up to see the sun-drenched but chilly outside. In the afternoon, I found a little niche to hide in, down on the deck between a couple of crates, out of the wind but in the very strong sun, and just hung out for a comfortable while. My friend's son lives in Annapolis, and he came down to the shore and got a shot of us at anchor, right by the Naval Academy. 

Weighing anchor in the pre-dawn

We also enjoyed watching a small fleet of teenagers aboard little fiberglass sailboats practice their racing moves in the late afternoon. One unfortunate boat capsized four times in the still brisk winds. Three times the crew righted it, climbed aboard and kept going. The fourth time, they were significantly separated from their boat, and they must have been very cold and tired. One of the four little motor boats shepherding the fleet came and got the two people out of the water, and another one towed the capsized boat back. They did get it righted again, and the crew went back aboard, but they went right into shore - good idea!

Sails up!

Early to bed, and a pre-dawn all-hands assembly on deck to head off to Baltimore. The crew raised the anchor with a manual lever and capstan. The engine was running, but we raised sails as soon as the anchor was aboard. With two sails up, off went the engine and we were sailing!

 

 

 

Always anxious - will we fit under the bridge?

It was a gorgeous day, though still nippy. The wind was unfavorable, so we sailed close-hauled under the Bay Bridge, and then tacked our way up the bay for the rest of the morning. Sail handling is a lot of work, and this was only the second or third voyage of the season, so the crew needed a lot of coaching by the Captain and the chief mate. I have learned to mostly stay out of the way as I am not that useful in hauling on the big heavy ropes. I did do some rope coiling, however.

 

 

 

Close to the bridge! Captain at the helm

 

 

Typical view on the bay -
wooden ship and modern freighter

We dropped the sails before heading up the river to Baltimore. The crew, and a couple of the more eager guests, headed up the mast to tightly furl the sails. We motored through the remnants of the Key Bridge (the one that collapsed a year ago) and into the ship's permanent home. My brother-in-law came to get us, saving us the train ride home. It seemed warm and sunny once we were at the dock!

Going aloft to furl the sails

 

 

Bridge remnants - eerie!

 So, the verdict is, it wasn't the best trip ever, but it beat staying home! Sadly, my phone is permanently wonky, but I was able to use it on the last day to take more pictures. I got a new phone yesterday, (I had been contemplating the upgrade anyway - it's a significantly better camera, and who knows what's happening with imports) and spending the day setting the new one up seemed as ambitious as I needed to be for the entire day. I was still tired!  

BIL admiring the boat

There may be more trips like this in my future. This one, while disappointing as far as sailing went, showed me that the right and sufficient clothes make a huge difference. Standing around will be colder than moving around. And, this trip had very little disruption of my sleep - up most of the night Sunday night/Monday morning in the rain, but a good night's sleep both Monday and Tuesday nights. There is a lot of ladder-climbing required aboard ship, and that went well. All the work I've done to strengthen both legs has paid off!